Keyboard Support

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addKeyboards function


Summary

Adds keyboards to KeymanWeb.

Syntax

keyman.addKeyboards(spec[, spec...])

Parameters

spec

Type: string|Object

keyboard name string or keyboard metadata JSON object

Return Value

Promise: A JavaScript Promise fulfilled upon adding keyboards.

The promise is an array containing a combination of the following:

  • successfully registered keyboard objects which define some or all of these properties
  • ErrorStub objects for keyboards that failed to register

Description

The keyboard spec can be a string or an object. Multiple keyboard specs can be specified in a single call, which can reduce the round-trip cost of multiple calls to Keyman Cloud servers (when using Keyman Cloud).

For general information and example uses of this method, please see the Adding Keyboards page from the guide section.

Using a string

When keyboard spec is a string, the Keyman Cloud is used to source the keyboard file. Keymanweb will load webfonts and keyboard file automatically on demand. The string format is one of the following:

  • 'keyboardID': Adds a specific keyboard, linking it to the default language for the keyboard
  • '@languageID': Adds the default keyboard for the specified BCP 47 language code
  • 'keyboardID@languageID': Loads a specific keyboard + language combination

The keyboard catalogue is online at http://keyman.com/developer/keymanweb/keyboards.

Using an object

When keyboard spec is an object, then more parameters can be specified, including sourcing the keyboard from locations other than the Keyman Cloud. The specification of the object is related to the Keyman Cloud JSON API (formerly known as KeymanWeb Server Data API):

The spec object contains the following members:

name

string

Name of the keyboard.

id

string

ID (internal name) of keyboard, together with version always matches the filename of the keyboard

filename

string

url of keyboard *.js file, relative (to page) or absolute

languages

array|object

An array of objects (see definition below) or single object linked to the keyboard.

rtl

boolean optional

true if the keyboard targets a right-to-left script. May be set to false or left undefined otherwise.

version

string optional

Version of keyboard *.js file

displayName

string optional

A name to display in the spacebar of the keyboard; if omitted, use the default spacebarText option.


The spec.languages object contains the following members:

name

string

Name of the language.

id

string

BCP 47 language code.

region

string optional

Required when using the Toolbar UI. May be set with one of the following region names:

  • 'World' ('un')
  • 'Africa' ('af')
  • 'Asia' ('as')
  • 'Europe' ('eu')
  • 'South America' ('sa')
  • 'North America' ('na')
  • 'Oceania' ('oc')
  • 'Central America' ('ca')
  • 'Middle East' ('me')
font

array|object optional

An array of Font objects (see definition below) or single object describing fonts for input fields and the OSK (if oskFont is not present.)

oskFont

array|object optional

An array of Font objects (see font definition below) or single object describing fonts for the OSK.


The spec.languages.font object contains the following members:

family

string

Font family that KeymanWeb will provide for this font.

filename

array

Array of URLs where font resources can be accessed, relative to the fonts initialization property. Multiple font resources can be specified as platform font format support varies and KeymanWeb will pick the most appropriate for the platform.

size

string optional

Font size (in CSS dimensions). If not specified, then 1em is used.